1. Field
The present application relates generally to wireless communications, and more specifically to systems, methods, and devices for access identifier based multicast communication.
2. Background
In many telecommunication systems, communications networks are used to exchange messages among several interacting spatially-separated devices. Networks may be classified according to geographic scope, which could be, for example, a metropolitan area, a local area, or a personal area. Such networks would be designated respectively as a wide area network (WAN), metropolitan area network (MAN), local area network (LAN), wireless local area network (WLAN), or personal area network (PAN). Networks also differ according to the switching/routing technique used to interconnect the various network nodes and devices (e.g. circuit switching vs. packet switching), the type of physical media employed for transmission (e.g. wired vs. wireless), and the set of communication protocols used (e.g. Internet protocol suite, SONET (Synchronous Optical Networking), Ethernet, etc.).
Wireless networks are often preferred when the network elements are mobile and thus have dynamic connectivity needs, or if the network architecture is formed in an ad hoc, rather than fixed, topology. Wireless networks employ intangible physical media in an unguided propagation mode using electromagnetic waves in the radio, microwave, infra-red, optical, etc. frequency bands. Wireless networks advantageously facilitate user mobility and rapid field deployment when compared to fixed wired networks.
The devices in a wireless network may transmit/receive information between each other. The information may comprise packets, which in some aspects may be referred to as data units or data frames. The packets may include overhead information (e.g., header information, packet properties, etc.) that helps in routing the packet through the network, identifying the data in the packet, processing the packet, etc. Packets may also include data, for example user data, multimedia content, etc. as might be carried in a payload of the packet.
Accordingly, the header information is transmitted with packets. Such header information may represent a significant portion of the information included in a data packet. The transmission of data in such packets may be inefficient due to the fact that much of the bandwidth for transmitting data may be used to transmit header information as opposed to transmission of the actual data. Furthermore, the use of longer identifiers, such as an identifier for the sending device or receiving device of the packet, may increase the resources consumed to transmit and receive the data. The resources may include power, processing time, processing resources, network bandwidth, and airtime. Use of compressed identifiers, such as an access identifier (AID), has been proposed to reduce the quantity of data transmitted. An identifier may be compressed by shortening the length of the identifier associated with a given device. This may be useful for communication with one specific device. However, in some implementations, it may be desirable to transmit a message to multiple devices. In some systems, transmitting a message to multiple devices may be referred to as “multicasting.” For example, if three devices are conducting an instant message session via a chat service, a message sent by one device may be sent to the other two devices involved in the instant message session. Accordingly, improved systems, methods, and devices which include the shortened identifier and allow multicasting are desirable.